Bruins beat Devils for 10th straight win

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DJ Bean
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March 18, 2014 @ 9:36 pm
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The Bruins won their 10th straight game, as they picked up a 4-2 win over the Devils Tuesday at the Prudential Center[1].

Patrice Bergeron[2]scored the only goal of the first period, taking a feed from Reilly Smith and beatingMartin Brodeur[3]five-hole. With the goal, Bergeron became the fourth Bruin to reach 20 goals this season. Smith will become the fifth with his next goal.

The early second period saw a quick flurry of goals, beginning with a Patrik Elias goal to tie the game on a 5-on-3. The Bruins responded in short order, with Brad Marchand[4]scoring a shorthanded goal 54 seconds after Elias’ tally. Fifty-nine seconds after that, Jarome Iginla scored his 556th career goal putting him in a tie with Johnny Bucyk for 25th on the all-time goals list.

Chris Kelly[5]would make it 4-1 in the third period, but Travis Zajac brought the Devils back within two just over two minutes later. The B’s would hold on to pick up the win, with Chad Johnson[6] improving his record to 15-3-1 on the season.

The victory allowed the Bruins to keep their distance from the Penguins[7] atop the Eastern Conference. The B’s continue to hold a five-point lead over Pittsburgh, though they’ve played 69 games to the Penguins[7]‘ 68.

Matt Bartkowski was made a healthy scratch, with Corey Potter making his Bruins debut a night after Bartkowski struggled vs. the Wild. Johnny Boychuk[8]missed his second straight game with a lower-body injury.

The Bruins will travel to Denver and will face the Avalanche Friday.

WHAT WENT RIGHT FOR THE BRUINS

– The Bruins have now gone nine consecutive games without allowing a first-period goal and six straight games without trailing. Winning is a much more manageable task when you don’t have to play from behind.

– There was some great passing between Andrej Meszaros, Bergeron and Reilly Smith on Bergeron’s goal. With the Devils in the midst of a line change, Meszaros found Bergeron at the blue line, who dished it back to Smith before going to the net. Smith returned the pass, with Bergeron beating Brodeur five-hole to finish the play.

– Speaking of passing, Torey Krug rifled a stretch pass down the ice to Iginla to set up the game-winning goal.

– Marchand’s goal was his fifth shorthanded tally of the season. He also drew a slashing penalty on Eric Gelinas in the third period during a shorthanded scoring chance to negate Dougie Hamilton’s second penalty of the day.

WHAT WENT WRONG FOR THE BRUINS

– The B’s are still allowing more primo scoring chances than they’d like, and Dougie Hamilton was the only man back on a 3-on-1 that resulted in Zajac’s third-period goal.

– The Bruins saw the absence of Boychuk when they had to face a 5-on-3 early in the second. The B’s had Zdeno Chara[9], Patrice Bergeron[2] and Kevan Miller on the ice when Elias scored to tie the game, as Dougie Hamilton was in the box on a charging call.